


the book deserves better

by cinderrain



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Used Bookstore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 07:17:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13141740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderrain/pseuds/cinderrain
Summary: For@wind-wispfor thePandora Hearts Secret Santaexchange!There’s a weird person sitting next to Elliot on the train.





	the book deserves better

There’s a weird person sitting next to Elliot on the train. 

His hair is everywhere, and he’s reading but he hasn’t moved a muscle for eight stops. Elliot knows because the train’s crowded this time of day and he’s pressed right up against this person, and he hasn’t.  _ Moved _ . 

It’s none of his business, of course, but he can’t help glancing at the cover to see what book has him so captivated. And oh -- it’s Elliot’s favourite book. Elliot’s not in the mood to start a conversation, though; any other day he would, but he’s not looking forward to going home, and the mess that awaits him there has him distracted. 

At the next stop, a lot of people get on at the same time, and the weird person next to Elliot stiffens. He lowers the book, slowly, and puts it down on his lap. 

He gets off at the next stop. 

Good riddance, Elliot thinks, but then he sees the book on the ground. He must have dropped it in the rush of people, and... Dammit. Elliot’s going to have to do something about this, because the book deserves better. He picks it up and checks inside for a name, and tucked inside the front cover is a slip of paper with an address. 

It’s on the way. (Kind of.) He types it into his phone and gets off at the next stop.

It turns out to be an used-book store that he’s never been to, and already his day is better because this is delaying his having to go home, and he’s definitely going to have to come back to this place later. The stop that Elliot got off at is closer walking distance to the shop than the stop the owner of the book had gotten off at, so the place is empty except for a clerk who nods at Elliot and goes back to his own reading. 

Elliot hangs around the entrance, browsing the bookshelves. After about twenty minutes, the bell over the door jingles again, and the guy comes in. “Hey, Leo,” the clerk calls out, without looking up. 

Elliot leaves the shelf he’d been looking at and approaches. “Hey. You left your book on the train."

Leo jumps a little. "You're the guy who sat next to me." Elliot gets the sense of scrutiny, somehow, even though he can’t see anything through the hair and glasses.

"Yeah, I saw you left your book." He hands it over.

"And you stalked me here? What a creep.” Leo brushes off the cover dismissively.

"Hey! I was trying to do something nice! And anyway I was only paying attention because I like that book too and --"

"Really? I thought it sucked.” Leo pushes up his glasses and tucks the book under his arm. 

Elliot almost chokes, and he steps up right in Leo’s face. "You're not even at the end! How could you --"

They almost get in a fistfight.

The clerk kicks them out once they reach a certain volume, but the argument continues right down the street. Elliot tries to take the book back at one point. Leo mutters about “if you’ve gotten me banned from my favourite bookstore” and “don’t expect gratitude for something I never asked you to do.”

They end up at Leo’s apartment, and, despite everything, Elliot gets invited in. 

It’s a few weeks and dozens of books later when Elliot ends up at the bookstore again. This time, he came here with Leo, and he lets himself be led to a corner with a window in the wall. Between the encyclopedias and the cookbooks, there’s a shaft of sunlight that lands in a square just big enough for two boys, and this time they’re quiet and they don’t get kicked out because Leo falls asleep on Elliot’s shoulder half an hour into their latest read. 

And all is right with the world. 


End file.
